What rule did the NFL change and how does it affect the league’s fastest wide receivers?

By changing the rules the NFL has seemingly sided with a handful of teams over others and while it remains to be seen how that will affect the strategy of said teams, what is almost certain is that we’ve not heard the last of this.

NFL addresses ‘cheat’ move with rule change

Until they lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion, Kansas City Chiefs, in the Wild Card Round last season, the general consensus was that the Miami Dolphins had the most potent offense in the league. Indeed, head coach Mike McDaniel’s name had become synonymous with creative offensive strategies that saw the Dolphins doing all manner of damage to their opponents including a 70-20 mauling of the Denver Broncos. Yet, there was one particular move that McDaniel implemented that left others not so much in awe, but rather quite bothered about it.

The move in question was a pre-snap motion which allowed quick players such as wide receiver Tyreek Hill to enjoy even greater success. As you can probably guess, it wasn’t long before questions were being asked and critiques were being made including San Francisco 49ers coach, Kyle Shanahan, who even referred to the movement as a “cheat” at one point during the season. Now, we can safely say that the league has taken that position as well. What that means, is that starting in 2024, the Dolphins will be penalized should they continue to use the ploy. Regarding what the NFL’s new rule is, you can see it below:

“If an eligible receiver who is on the line of scriMMAge moves backward or changes his stance (two point to three point or conversely) and does not come to a complete stop before the snap, it is a false start. Any eligible backfield player who changes his stance does not have to come to a complete stop prior to the snap, as long as his actions are not abrupt (false start) or forward (illegal motion).”

It’s important to note that the words you see in bold are those that the league added specifically to deal with the Dolphins’ move ahead of the 2024-25 season

OK, but what exactly were the Dolphins doing?

As you can understand from the above-stated rule, the NFL is targeting a motion that is enacted prior to the snap. In the video of the Dolphins below, you can see that it typically involves one of Miami’s receivers - quite often Tyreek Hill - starting to angle toward the line of scrimmage just before the snap. Now, what’s interesting is that after the Dolphins utilized the tactic in Week 1 of last season, both the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers began to do the same.

There is of course a degree of irony in that choice, given that the Niners’ coach is the person who brought the move into focus in the first place. To his credit Shanahan was quick to admit the copycat nature of the league, stating without issue that he stole the idea from the Dolphins last season. “The [Dolphins] did that in Week 1 with a little cheat motion,” Shanahan said. “We did it in Week 2 after we saw it. The Rams did it about three times versus us in Week 2. ...It looks hard to stop people like Tyreek and Deebo [Samuel] and stuff with a running start.”

Ultimately, what this means for the coming season is that the Dolphins, 49ers, and Rams will now be under greater scrutiny when it comes to pre-snap motions. An interesting piece of context to note in all of this is that Shanahan, McDaniel, and the Rams’ Sean McVay all coached together back in 2013 with Washington.

Indeed, all three coaches are known league-wide for their innovation which is to say that as much as they may have had a door closed on them by the league with this new change to the rules, it’s highly likely that they’ll find a way to open another one before long. As we always say, watch this space.